Dreaming of Reform: University Intellectuals during the Lemus regime and the Civic-Military Junta in El Salvador (1960-1961)

Resumen

Lieutenant-Colonel José María Lemus, a protégé of President Oscar Osorio (1950-1956), roseto power in 1956. Lemus is often remembered as an authoritarian ruler, but at the outset of hispresidency he allowed the return of exiles and abolished the “Law in Defense of Democraticand Constitutional Order,” sanctioned during Osorio’s anti-communist crackdown in 1952.Lemus governed El Salvador during a period of declining prosperity as coffee prices plungedin the international markets, forcing an economic restructuring which had particularly negativeconsequences for the poor. But more importantly, the changing political landscape in LatinAmerica posed enormous challenges to Lemus, as opposition forces ousted Venezuelan dictatorMarcos Pérez Jiménez in January 1958 and revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro took power in Cubain January 1959. Political events in Venezuela and Cuba inspired a new wave of mobilization inEl Salvador led by the recently formed Partido Revolucionario Abril y Mayo (PRAM) and FrenteNacional de Orientación Cívica (FNOC) which challenged Lemus’ authoritarian regime. Whilethe local press followed step by step events in Cuba as reported by U.S. press agencies, Lemusand the Revolutionary Party of Democratic Unification (PRUD), the official party, showed arenewed determination to prevent the spread of “Cuban-inspired subversion” in El Salvador. Tothis end, Sidney Mazzini, a representative of the PRUD at the National Assembly envisioned theformation of what he termed a “sanitary cordon” around Cuba.